Big Compute: HPC & Batch

Large-scale cloud computing power on demand

Azure provides on-demand compute resources that enable you to run large parallel and batch compute jobs in the cloud. Extend your on-premises HPC cluster to the cloud when you need more capacity, or run work entirely in Azure. Scale easily and take advantage of advanced networking features such as RDMA to run true HPC applications using MPI to get the results you want, when you need them.

True HPC capabilities in the cloud, on demand

Cloud enable cluster applications

Azure Batch provides job scheduling and auto-scaling of compute resources as a platform service, making it easy to run large-scale parallel and HPC applications in the cloud. By using the Batch SDKs and Batch service, you can configure one or more applications to run on demand or on a schedule across a pool of VMs. Describe how the data should be distributed, what parameters to use for each task, and the command line to get started. Azure Batch handles both scale and scheduling, managing the execution as a whole.

True HPC capabilities in the cloud, on demand

The performance and scalability of a world-class supercomputing center is now available to everyone, on demand in the cloud. Run your Windows and Linux HPC applications using high performance A8 and A9 compute instances on Azure, and take advantage of a backend network with MPI latency under 3 microseconds and non-blocking 32 Gbps throughput. This backend network includes remote direct memory access (RDMA) technology on Windows and Linux that enables parallel applications to scale to thousands of cores. Azure provides you with high memory and HPC-class CPUs to help you get results fast. Scale up and down based upon what you need and pay only for what you use to reduce costs.

Linux and open source support

Customers running high performance computing workloads on Linux can tap into the power of Azure. Azure supports Linux remote direct memory access (RDMA) technology on high performance A8 and A9 compute instances, enabling scientists and engineers to solve complex problems using many popular industry-standard applications for Linux, or by bringing their own Linux application to Azure. You can also use HPC Pack to schedule jobs on Linux Virtual Machines in Azure, giving you the ability to use a single job scheduling solution for your Linux and Windows HPC applications.

Extend your HPC cluster or run entirely in the cloud

With Microsoft HPC Pack you can deploy an on-premises Windows compute cluster and dynamically extend to Azure when you need additional capacity. You can also use HPC Pack to deploy a cluster entirely on Azure and connect to it over a VPN or the Internet. Do all this without compromising performance thanks to a wide range of compute options, including memory intensive and compute intensive instances. Get started today!

Broad partner ecosystem

Take advantage of a wide range of Linux and Windows applications, libraries, and tools from independent software vendors with solutions across industries such as financial services, engineering, oil and gas, life sciences, and digital content creation. Your existing cluster manager and job scheduler can work with Azure Virtual Machines. Microsoft partners including Excelian, Cycle Computing, Techila, Rescale, Fixstars, and Nimbo can help make the cloud work for you.

Solutions that fit your needs

Rendering

With Azure, you can offload and speed up rendering jobs. Rendering is used in various industries for functions such as producing visual effects, creating advanced engineering concepts, and designing concept cars. Managing in-house or 3rd party render farms can be challenging and costly. Avoid unnecessary infrastructure costs by extending capacity to Azure.

Financial risk modeling

When accuracy, rapid decision making, and costs count, financial services firms use Azure to meet the business needs of actuaries, traders, enterprise risk managers, chief financial officers, and corporate treasuries. Whether the compute workload readily scales out or is computationally intensive, Azure and Microsoft HPC Pack help you get the work done faster and efficiently.

Engineering design and simulation

Increase your productivity by running your computational fluid dynamics, structural analysis, finite element analysis, crash modeling and other computer aided engineering simulations in the cloud. With true HPC capabilities available on Azure, you can now take advantage of the scale and flexibility that the cloud brings to organizations of all sizes. Azure can help you and your team to introduce new, high-quality products to market, while controlling costs within compressed development times.

Genomics research

The ability to store and analyze enormous volumes of data is critical to researchers around the world. Although technological advances enable researchers to store and process ever-larger data stores, there are still challenges. CPU and storage limitations can hinder researchers, particularly those dealing with enormous volumes of information. With Azure, you have the ability to massively scale on demand and only pay for the time used, opening up tremendous new research opportunities.